Deepak Shodhan said he was getting better: Dattajirao Gaekwad

Dattajirao Gaekwad, India's captain on the 1959 tour of England, is now India's oldest living Test cricketer at 87 years 203 days.

Gaekwad, the father of erstwhile Test opener Anshuman, told mid-day from Baroda yesterday that Deepak Shodhan assured him that he was getting better after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Gaekwad Sr said: "Deepak and me go back a long way. Before Gujarat, he played for Baroda and I remember playing inter-collegiate tennis with him. And of course, he was a member of the Baroda team which won the Ranji Trophy under my captaincy in the 1957-58 season."